#MufflerMan: Can Arvind Kejriwal be Delhi's political phoenix?
As the winter sets in the national capital, the hashtag #MufflerMan has shot to the top of Twitter trends and has left other hashtags sweating for three weeks now. Add to that the Aam Aadmi Party's massive fund boost, the party's detractors must be perspiring.
Last week, the AAP collected Rs 91 lakh from Arvind Kejriwal's fundraiser dinner in Mumbai. The recent Delhi fundraiser made the party richer by Rs 50 lakh. Now the fund raita is well spilt on to Twitter as people make small contributions for every retweet. This signals the resurrection of the former chief minister who ran Delhi for 49-days and then himself ran away.
The party that enjoys a majority in Parliament has asked its MPs to campaign in the Delhi Assembly polls. That the BJP is planning such a blitzkrieg is evidence enough that it is afraid of the AK-49. Honestly, no one was expecting the kind of donations and support AAP has been getting of late. Despite getting Maharashtra and Haryana into its kitty, BJP appears to be worried about its fortunes in Delhi. Had it not been the Kejriwal fear factor, why did the BJP delay elections in Delhi? It capitulated only after the Supreme Court took Lt Governor Najeeb Jung to task for keeping the Assembly in suspended animation.
Given what had happened in Varanasi, the BJP's concerns are real. Around six months ago, Kejriwal had become the butt of jokes after he left Delhi hurriedly to take on Narendra Modi from Varanasi. Then, the Modi vs Kejriwal fight had turned the holy city into battlefield, a political tourism hotspot and a city of political ramp walks with the high-octane campaigns, NaMo chants, the Gujarat development story vis-a-vis a newbie who had much to answer for running away from Delhi. He got more than 2 lakh votes, getting second spot.
However, the election results turned the Modi wave into a tsunami, rendering Kejriwal irrelevant in politics in the aftermath of the Lok Sabha verdict. Infighting over the Lok Sabha debacle left it gasping. It hit the bottom with donations dipping to a few hundred bucks a day. He was more or less written off. The Assembly remained in suspended animation for over seven months. The absence of a government did make Delhi yearn for one.
A stock of current political situation makes a case for Kejriwal rising. He still matters as Modi's government flip-flops on the black-money issue and the silly talk of Rs 15 lakh for all citizens after its recovery has boomeranged, making many brand his government as UPA-3. Remember, Kejriwal had built his party and won the elections on the issue of corruption. He started as an anti-corruption crusader. Corruption is an emotional issue as much as it's an electoral issue. And, even the BJP would agree that it is on sticky ground when it comes to handling of black money issue with its tall promise falling on its face.
Indeed, the saffron party has handed rabble-rouser Kejriwal a chance here. Now with elections looming over Delhi once again, Kejriwal has got another chance to prove himself. The BJP knows well if he comes to power again, he could be back as the prime Opposition and a constant pain the behind. The recent Twitter trend, the fund booster and good turnouts at AAP events set a stage for Keriwal's comeback. Now it's up to Kejriwal to cash in on the recovering fortunes and not squander like he did in the Lok Sabha polls.